Katherine Lafourcade — A Journey of Passion, Resilience and Giving Back

Katherine Lafourcade, executive director of the French American Chamber of Commerce Atlanta-Southeast (FAAC Atlanta-Southeast), located at Curiosity Lab Peachtree Corners, discovered her passion for French early in life.

As a schoolgirl in England, learning French ignited a spark in her. And by age 13 she’d informed her mother that she planned to be bilingual, live in France and marry a Frenchman. Later, armed with a degree in international business and French, she made her way to an internship in Paris, achieved fluency and did, in fact, eventually marry a Frenchman.

“I worked for 10 months in Paris for a defense company … in the purchasing department. I was basically learning French. I was an assistant, and it was very much French immersion,” Lafourcade recounts.

Having reached an important linguistic milestone, Lafourcade couldn’t wait to share the progress with her mother. “I rang her so excited one day, forgetting she was still teaching. […] They had to get her out of the classroom to come to the phone. All I wanted to tell her was that I’d had a dream in French,” she laughed.

Career moves and motherhood

Lafourcade held various jobs in Paris, then moved to Nantes on the west coast before a new opportunity led her to Geneva. She’d spend more than 15 years in Switzerland. It was there that she met Alain, her Frenchman, and had two children, Lina and Theo.

Balancing motherhood and a career was important to Lafourcade. While initially staying home with her young children, she soon sought a professional outlet.

“For me it was important to show my kids that mums are able to work and have professional roles,” she stated.

Entrepreneur

As women so often do, Lafourcade adapted to meet her family’s needs, but being a stay-at-home mom was not her long-term plan. “I did struggle at that point. […] It was difficult. […],” she confessed.

To work around their circumstances with young children, she and her British biochemist friend co-founded a French/English bilingual preschool, allowing for a business to flourish alongside their children.

Naysayers suggesting they shouldn’t embark on this venture because they were women, mothers and expats only strengthened their resolve. They ran the successful business for five years, allowing their children to thrive with friends in a nurturing environment.

They secured an employee with early childhood education qualifications. Her friend oversaw the books and finances, and Lafourcade spearheaded communications.

“We were everything — the CEOs and the cleaners,” Lafourcade chuckled.

Once their children were older, the business was sold. Lafourcade then held jobs in recruitment, education (as administrative staff) and manufacturing. Her last job in Switzerland was with Nestlé for five years, serving as an executive assistant to the vice president of Nestlé Skin Health.

As varied as her roles have been, they share a common thread. “In all of my jobs, I’ve always found something where I can use both languages,” she said.

Disaster strikes

In December of 2016, 12-year-old Theo started getting sick. What began with mysterious symptoms like leg and chest pains increased in intensity to the point of tearful nights that landed him in the hospital with a low-grade fever during the family’s trip to the UK in early 2017.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Lafourcade told herself as she spent a milestone birthday in the hospital while Theo underwent a battery of tests. In the meantime, Alain and Lina returned to Switzerland. Lafourcade and Theo stayed behind, hoping for answers that never came.

Ultimately, the decision was made to forward all lab results to Theo’s doctor in Switzerland and return home for further investigation. Lafourcade’s sister, a medical professional, reviewed the labs and harbored concerns.  

Amidst uncertainty, Lafourcade took Theo, unwell and tired of being poked and prodded, to the pediatrician upon their return. 

After cautioning everyone to remain calm, the doctor’s demeanor changed upon feeling Theo’s enlarged spleen, sending them to the hospital immediately.

It’s leukemia

Reliving the trauma, Lafourcade felt the emotions of Friday, January 13, 2017, surface. The diagnosis was acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Chemotherapy treatments began that same day.

“You don’t get the words that are being said,” Lafourcade confided. “It feels absolutely impossible. This is your healthy, happy, normal kid. How have we gone from that to cancer?”

The port placed in Theo’s chest remained there for the duration of his grueling treatment protocol — over three and a half years.

“Leukemia is tough. You learn a lot very quickly because you’re kind of put on this crazy train going 100 miles an hour,” Lafourcade shared.

Leukemia originates in the bone marrow where a single white blood cell undergoes a mutation and multiplies, triggering abnormal growth and division. The proliferation of abnormal cells crowds out healthy white and red blood cells and platelets.

Lafourcade explained, “Normally white cells defend the body. They’re part of your immune system. Once they’ve mutated, they don’t defend anything. They multiply much too fast, and they don’t die quickly enough.”

Phase one

It was the buildup of leukemia cells within Theo’s bones, especially large bones like the sternum and femur, which created massive pressure and pain. Chemotherapy alleviated his discomfort. However, this intensive phase of treatment made school difficult and brought with it all the usual side effects: hair loss, nausea and lethargy.

Lafourcade speaks highly of the care Theo received at the CHUV: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois. There, a cocktail of drugs was administered one to four times weekly; some administered into the port, some in a 24-hour drip requiring overnight stays. Others required days of saline pre- and post-hydration to avoid an assault on his organs.

As for Theo’s mood, Lafourcade recalls when he’d had enough. “You have to imagine a 12 and a half, 13-year-old. […] At one point he told me he wanted to die. He said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ It was horrendous for all of us.”

Constantly in and out of the hospital, Lafourcade was unable to work. Her team at Nestlé took on her workload and checked on her regularly.

When the easy part is hard

Nine months into Theo’s relentless treatment, the Lafourcades anticipated the simpler “maintenance” phase, but things unfortunately took a turn for the worse. Frantic testing revealed an intestinal parasite wreaking havoc on Theo’s already weakened immune system.

There was no rest for mother or son. Lafourcade logged each time he vomited or went to the bathroom — up to 15 times per night. Theo was in agony. When the infection spread to his bloodstream, septicemia took hold. His blood pressure was crashing.

“His lungs got the majority of the infection, so there was not enough oxygen getting from his lungs into his blood system,” Lafourcade explained.

As a last resort, Theo was placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support. Mimicking the functions of the heart and lungs, the machine adds oxygen to and removes carbon dioxide from the blood outside of the body and then sends it back into circulation.

“It’s brutal. It’s like open heart surgery. You put two tubes directly onto the heart,” Lafourcade said. At the same time, Theo was on a ventilator for breathing, on dialysis for his failing kidneys and had a tracheotomy to prevent damage to his vocal cords due to extended intubation.

“The machine kept him alive for over three weeks, […] Normally people don’t go on that machine for long because the body is only able to cope with the blood going through this kind of machinery for a short period of time.”

In fact, Theo hemorrhaged multiple times. He needed more blood, fast. Lafourcade recalls doctors sounding an alarm while yelling, “He is empty!” Then she watched as large syringes of blood were injected into tubes connected to his body to boost his blood volume.

A mother’s voice

Having heard that maternal voices can comfort patients and improve their condition, Lafourcade sat by Theo’s side reading to him for the better part of three weeks.

During times when Theo seemed to be “closer to the surface,” his heartrate increased and he exhibited twitching or facial movements. As Lafourcade read to him, she noticed that his agitation would subside.

A rude but astonishing awakening

It was a harrowing decision to take Theo off life support in January. Doctors weren’t sure his heart and lungs could withstand it. He bled profusely, requiring another blood transfusion, but miraculously, he made it.

After nine months of feeling terrible from chemotherapy and being assured it would get easier, he was angry when he woke up. Things were not better.

He’d lost so much muscle mass he could barely sit up. His body was riddled with pressure sores from having been immobile. “He was a little skeleton who couldn’t speak because of the tracheotomy. He was furious. All I could see was this fist by the side of his bed,” Lafourcade recalled.

It took months of daily physiotherapy for Theo to relearn how to sit, stand, walk and grip a pencil.

Coming to America

Just as Theo was transitioning out of the ICU, Alain was offered a position abroad.

“We both said, ‘This feels like something we should look at,’” Lafourcade said. They discussed it with Theo’s doctors first.

They learned that the treatment protocol for leukemia in the U.S. is identical to that of Switzerland. Moreover, his doctors felt the move would benefit Theo psychologically.

The next step was talk to their kids. “I hadn’t even finished my sentence when I was asking Theo, who was 15 at this point and he said, ‘I want to go tomorrow.’”

Lafourcade believes it was the ultimate opportunity for him to leave the nightmare behind and start afresh. Unfortunately, Lina was not as enthusiastic about leaving Switzerland during her senior high school year.

In the U.S., Theo continued his treatment at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Scottish Rite Hospital. Lafourcade trusted the capable doctors there implicitly. The American doctors simply picked up where their Swiss counterparts had left off.

Theo rang the bell at the end of his treatment in May 2020, making May of this year a particularly important anniversary. After five years, the likelihood of recurrence is significantly lower. Today, Theo is a sophomore at UGA, interested in studying medicine because he wants to give back.

Boss lady and super mom

The Lafourcades joined the FACC Atlanta upon moving to the U.S. to connect with the French community here. At the gala event of 2021 it was announced that the executive director would be returning to Europe. Acquaintances suggested Lafourcade was made for the job.

The position involves speaking French; it instantly sparked her interest. After doing some research about the role, the nature of non-profit organizations and the mission of the chamber, Lafourcade concluded it would be a good fit. She started in January of 2022.

There was some juggling of car rides, study help and college visits. “You have to be clever with the hours you work. The chamber isn’t a [traditional] 9-to-5. There’s a lot of afterwork stuff. It can be a fairly unusual time frame that I work within, especially with France, you’ve got the six hour time difference,” Lafourcade shared.

She considers herself lucky to have more flexibility than she would in a typical office environment. Some days are long, but her children see the value in what she does, and that motivates Lafourcade.

Her vision is for the chamber to be the “go-to” for any French companies here, all Francophiles in Atlanta and any French companies moving in. She collaborates closely with The Alliance Française and the French Consulate to support the vibrant French community in metro Atlanta.

According to Lafourcade, board members have noted the chamber’s improved position under her leadership over the past three years.

The FACC Atlanta-Southeast was founded in 1985. After highs, lows and multiple changes, they celebrated 40 years this past February. “We’re looking to go onward and upward,” Lafourcade smiled.

Despite talks of tariffs creating challenges, the FACC’s mission remains the same: to provide a soft landing for French companies establishing themselves in the region.

The floodgates open

In May 2022, a significant change occurred: the Food and Drug Administration lifted the “mad cow” (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) restrictions on blood donation for people who had lived or traveled in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland from 1980 onward. The Lafourcades were delighted; they were finally eligible to donate.

“It’s the notion of giving back, it’s community, it’s people in need,” Lafourcade said. “I never thought that I would be in a situation where anonymous blood donors would save my son’s life. And yet, that’s what happened.”

Although it may be human nature to think this type of misfortune only befall others, Lafourcade feels we must ask ourselves, “What if one day it’s you or your child?” Because human blood can’t be manufactured, we’ll always depend on people’s generosity for it.

Initially, she alerted members of the FACC Atlanta that the rules of blood donation had changed for them. “I’m going to use my voice as the leader of the chamber to get the word out. One side of it is the expat community. Another side is people stopped donating during COVID and haven’t gotten back to it,” she shared.

Lafourcade believes her story can serve to strengthen a sense of community, particularly in a world feeling increasingly uncertain. “We’re in such a weird world right now where everything is scary, and people don’t know what the future holds,” she said.

She focuses on tangible actions people can take to quell that dreadful feeling of helplessness. And, having been on the receiving end of this life-saving practice, she wishes to inspire others to donate.

“Giving blood is free! You can do it several times a year and you will for a fact be helping somebody. It’s a case of helping your neighbor and doing something good if you can.”

Raising awareness

Turning trauma into positive action, Lafourcade feels a sense of duty to host blood drives. My husband and I were donors at her first one last September.

It was a painless, streamlined process. Snacks and refreshments were generously provided. Meeting community members and greeting Lafourcade were perks.

“The first one that you came to … we did a great job. Our goal for the drive was 18 units and we smashed that, we got 34 units,” Lafourcade beamed. 

To spread the word beyond the FACC, she is now reaching out to the communities in which she lives and works — Johns Creek and Peachtree Corners respectively — to share her experience and encourage participation.

World Blood Donor Day

Lafourcade is hosting her next Red Cross Blood Drive at Curiosity Lab on World Blood Donor Day, Saturday, June 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and encourages residents to help in whatever way they can.

“I want everybody in Peachtree Corners thinking, ‘I want to do my part.’ If people can’t give blood they can volunteer or help spread the word,” she said.

You can sign up to donate on the FACC Atlanta website or download the American Red Cross Blood Donor app to schedule and manage appointments and follow your blood’s journey to see where it gets used.

A woman in leadership

Katherine Lafourcade — executive director of the French American Chamber of Commerce Atlanta–Southeast, a passionate advocate for cultural and business exchange and a resilient mother — has journeyed from a schoolgirl captivated by the French language to leading a prominent bi-national organization.

Her story is one of determination, adaptability and turning profound personal challenges into a powerful force for good.

For more about the FACC Atlanta-Southeast or to sign up for the June blood drive, visit facc-atlanta.com. You can also connect with the organization on social media.